The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has issued details on lease sales scheduled in the western Gulf of Mexico, Sale 187 that is scheduled in August, and an eastern Gulf of Mexico sale, tentatively set for December. The sales would continue royalty measures designed by the MMS to increase domestic natural gas and oil production.

The Final Sale 187, scheduled for Aug. 20 in the western GOM encompasses 3,996 unleased blocks, about 21.7 million acres, in the Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area. The area is located offshore Texas and in deeper waters offshore Louisiana. The blocks are located from 14 to 357 kilometers offshore in water depths ranging from 8 meters to more than 3,000 meters. The MMS estimates the sale could result in production of 136-to-262 million bbl and 0.81-to-1.44 Tcf.

The Proposed Notice of Sale 189, tentatively scheduled for December 10, would be the twelfth eastern GOM Outer Continental Shelf lease offering, The configuration is the same as MMS eastern GOM Sale 181 held in December 2001.

“The prospect of holding this sale in December is exciting because of the potential oil and gas in the area,” said MMS Regional Director Chris Oynes. “There already has been a discovery by Anadarko in this area, in Lloyd Ridge Block 50 on its Atlas prospect. Anadarko’s earlier discovery on its Jubilee prospect in Atwater Valley Block 349 lies near the diving line between the Central Gulf and the Eastern Gulf and directly across from this Sale 189 area. BP is already producing inside the Sale area at its Kings Peak project in Desoto Canyon Block 133.”

The proposed eastern sale contains a requirement that the bidders submit, by the bid submission deadline, a Geophysical Data and Information Statement declaring whether they possess or control depth-migrated geophysical data and information pertaining to each block upon which they are participating as a bidder. MMS issued a Notice To Lessees, No. 2003-G05, effective Feb. 15, 2003, which provides more detail concerning submission.

The proposed sale area encompasses 256 blocks in the eastern GOM Planning Area and covers approximately 1.47 million acres. Available unleased blocks in the planning area currently number 138 and cover about 0.79 million acres and are located from 100 to 196 miles offshore in water depths of about 1,600 to more than 3,425 meters.

Estimates of undiscovered economically recoverable hydrocarbons in this proposal range from 65-to-85 million bbl and 0.265-to-0.34 Tcf. The MMS estimates the net economic value for this proposed sale to be between $100 million and $500 million in 2003 dollars.

Complete sale notice packages, including the Notices, sale maps, and supporting documents, are available from the MMS Gulf of Mexico Region Public Information Unit; telephone (800) 200-GULF or (504) 736-2519. For more information, visit the web site at www.gomr.mms.gov.

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